Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Machiavellian Capitalism

This (name left out to protect ME) class places an enormous emphasis on how great they are to work for.  It's supposed to be very rewarding, because:

1.  This is not a shark tank.  Don't be a jerk.  We are nice to each other here.
2.  This job is really about You.  The people around you care about your personal minutia.
3.  This is not a job where you continually lie to customers.  In this job you help customers (except for those important instances in which you lie).  Because of how we treat each other at work, we give the best "customer experience" in the business.  The culture permeates the work.
4.   It's not openly stated, but is forever implied, that Air BnB is part of the future.
5.  You can move up here, and FAST.

I actually believe #3 and #4.

I believe that when we stop being codependents in a dysfunctional relationship with work itself, then workers won't be the easily exploitable resource we have been before.  If people can't be made to tear each other to shreds competing for jobs, then you can't run a shark tank.  People might jump in the water, but they will not swim in circles for you if they've decided not to. In this way Millennials, so infamous for their "lack of work ethic", are in my opinion are the solution to the shark tank.

But this is still capitalism.  We are still being exploited.  The pay is 12.00 an hour, which is barely above food stamp territory.  It's the method of exploitation that's new.

We're exploited by being "happy at work".

This company understands why people "rage-quit".  A number of people in my class have done just that.  They've rage quit jobs at banks and nursing homes and retail and day care, and it's always the same punch line: "And for minimum wage!".  The stories begin with tales of how poorly the business is run, escalate into stories of abuse at the hands of bad managers, and then end with the final insult, minimum wage.

This company was founded and is run by educated entrepreneurs.  They are not working class guys.  But they found themselves in an impossible financial situation and entrepreneured themselves out of it by being very resourceful.

It's great capitalism, in that sense.  It's just tough for me in class.

We spend about 1/4 to 1/3 of class time on "ice breakers" and Sal and on everyone's personal minutia.  I know a lot more about Sal and my classmates than I know about the material.  Rather than running scenarios all day, we yak about our dumb shit.  Well, it wasn't yakking yesterday-yesterday it got to the point of YELLING.

My ears were buzzing when I got home.  In fact, they still are hours later.

Yes, I'm the oldest person in the class.  So my ears will buzz when other's ears won't.  And I don't actually HAVE ADD, unlike everyone else in the class, so it's very difficult for me to think when there's blasting music and people talking.

I'm soldiering through.  It really can be best described that way.  This class wears on my patience horrifically.  We aren't being drilled with the material.  And yet, I will be responsible for knowing it.

Supposedly, there's a ton of support.  But we need to show resourcefulness.  Well, I can do that.  I just need a lot more time and practice with the material than the rest of the class does.

I'm still in the fight.  I mean, what choice do I have?

1 comment:

  1. I thinks that Machiavelli's ideology has laid the foundation for the disaster of an capitalism our government practices today. His main idea is that Power is everything to a ruler,this is something deeply embedded into our society!
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